Ayobami Akenroye, MBChB, MPH, PhD

Patients with severe asthma account for a disproportionate share of asthma-related burden. Omalizumab and mepolizumab are biologic therapies approved for the treatment of asthma uncontrolled by conventional therapies. The two asthma phenotypes in patients with severe uncontrolled asthma often overlap: allergic (omalizumab) and eosinophilic asthma (mepolizumab). However, there are limited biomarkers to predict response to each of these biologics. Selection of the wrong biologic can be costly to both patients, given that asthma is potentially fatal, and to the healthcare system. We will identify proteins that predict response to each of these biologics and identify proteins that may differentiate a patient likely to respond to mepolizumab from one likely to respond to omalizumab. We have chosen proteins which we previously found were associated with inflammation in asthma and responded to biologic treatment. These studies will improve our ability to match the right patient to omalizumab or mepolizumab.

Co-Funded American Lung Association & Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology

Update: We studied blood samples from patients with severe asthma who are receiving biologic treatments to find protein markers and genetic risk scores that could help predict how well a person will respond to these therapies. Since factors like lifestyle or environment can affect blood proteins, we also looked at how things like smoking, BMI, eosinophil count, and the season when blood was drawn might influence cytokine levels. We found that all these factors can impact cytokine levels in the blood. In addition, we confirmed that certain genetic risk scores—such as for the IL21 gene—are linked to how well patients respond to asthma treatments like omalizumab.